TEN COMMON MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS SURROUNDING DEAFNESS

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TEN COMMON MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS SURROUNDING
DEAFNESS

• Nanci A. Scheetz, Ed.D., CSC
• Professor
• Valdosta State University

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DEAF PEOPLE CANT HEAR ANYTHING

• Most deaf people hear something very few have a
  corner audiogram
• The type of loss and the age of onset determine
  how a person can use their hearing
• Categories of loss include mild, moderate,
  severe, and profound

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Mild Loss

• 16 29 dB Loss
• At 15dB loss students can miss up to 10 of the
  speech signal if the teacher is further away than
  3 feet.

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Moderate Hearing Loss

• 30 44 dB
• At 30dB the student can miss 25 40 of the
  speech signal without amplification.
• Between 35 40dB the student can miss up to 50
  of classroom discussion

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Moderately SevereHearing Loss

• 45 59dB loss
• Without amplification 75 of the information can
  be lost for someone with a 40db loss
• 80 100 can be lost for someone with a 50dB
  loss without amplification

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Severe Hearing Loss

• 60 79dB loss
• Without amplification may hear loud voices
• Can usually hear some environmental sounds

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Night Club and Classroom
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CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES

• When you see deaf printed in the literature with
  a lower case d it refers to an audiological
  definition -- Degree of hearing loss
• When you see Deaf printed in the literature with
  a capital D it refers to Deaf Culture

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CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Deaf people are one of the few disability groups
  (perhaps the only one who value their deafness
  and consider it a positive attribute).
• Culturally Deaf People
• Dont want to be fixed
• Value their Deaf heritage
• Share a common language

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ALL DEAF PEOPLE CAN READ LIPS

• The English language has 28 different mouth
  shapes and 38 to 43 different sounds. Only 16 of
  these movements are distinguishable in the
  English Language.
• 40 - 50 of speech sounds are not visible on the
  lips 60 70 of isolated speech sounds are
  produced within the mouth e, g, h, i, a, k
  remain hidden
• Ordinary speech averages 13 sounds per second,
  while the eye is capable of seeing only 8 10
  sounds per second.

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• You must have an extensive English vocabulary and
  be familiar with the syntax of the language to
  speech read
• Phrases such as
• I love you
• Ill have two look exactly the same

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ALL DEAF CHILDREN HAVE DEAF PARENTS

• 9 out of every 10 deaf children are born to
  parents who can hear
• Deaf children having 2 deaf parents comprise only
  3-4 of the general population
• 90 of hearing parents who have deaf children DO
  NOT rely on signed communication to interact with
  their deaf child

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IMPACT OF COMMUNICATION ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

• Most children are born with an innate ability and
  desire to learn to communicate
• Normal language development follows a
  predetermined sequence that is similar across
  most cultures
• The language development of deaf or hard of
  hearing children also follows a predetermined
  sequence

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• Delays in language development can occur in
  deaf/hard of hearing students because of
• Their inability to process auditory input
• Or a lack of sufficient exposure to visually
  encoded language

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• As a consequence, the most debilitating aspect of
  deafness if NOT the hearing loss but the lack of
  language that results from insufficient VISUAL
  or AUDITORY input
• Although in the past there was a belief that
  speech was language, we now know that speech is
  simply a tool or mode of transmission and is
  distinct from the cognitive system that underlies
  language.

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• Children who are deaf and hard of hearing do not
  have easy access to spoken communication
• Language development relies on exposure and
  exchanges that occur in ones environment

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HEARING INDIVIDUALS

• Hearing individuals are constantly bombarded with
  language from the environment
• Radio
• Friends
• Siblings
• Community
• Mall

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Language Exposure for Hearing Individuals
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Deaf/Hard of Hearing Individuals

• Deaf and hard of hearing individuals have limited
  exposure to spoken language in the environment
• Those who rely on signed communication are
  limited to others who share the same language
• Captioned TV
• Information provided in print

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Exposure to Spoken LanguageDeaf Children
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ALL DEAF PEOPLE KNOW SIGN LANGUAGE

• In the US approximately 82 of deaf/hard of
  hearing students receive all or part of their
  education in regular education classrooms.
• In 95 of these classrooms a form of sign
  communication is used

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AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE, SIGN SYSTEMS CUED SPEECH

• American Sign Language (ASL) unlike English is a
  spatial, time-oriented language, based on visual
  perception and visual conveyance of ideas,
  information and feeling concepts
• ASL has its own
• Prosody
• Syntax
• Grammatical structure

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ASL STRUCTURE

• Topic/ comment statements are common in ASL
• Adjectives can occur before or after the noun
• Pronouns are gender neutral and number specific

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ASL

• Is not a universal language each country has
  their own sign language
• ASL is comprised of fingerspelling and signs
• It has been developed by and for the Deaf
  community

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ENGLISH SIGN SYSTEMS

• Several Sign Systems have been developed to apply
  signs following English word order.
• These systems are not languages and include SEE
  I, SEE II, Signed English
• CASE, etc.

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Continuum ASL to ENGLISH
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A COMPARISON OF ENGLISH AND ASL

• In English we would say
• I have got to really study for my SPEC 2000
  test that Dr. Hull is giving next week because
  she said it would be a bear.
• In Signed English it would look like this
• In ASL it would look like this --

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ASL EXAMPLE

• Next week Dr. Hull (reference) give SPEC 2000
  test
• Me, Study must
• Why (rhetorical question)
• Reference
• Announce tough!

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PIDGIN SIGNED ENGLISH

• Because ASL is a foreign language and English is
  a foreign language a pidgin has been developed to
  facilitate communication between deaf and hearing
  individuals.
• Pidgins take pieces from both languages so
  communication can occur

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AN EXAMPLE OF THE SAME SENTENCE USING PSE

• I must really study for SPEC 2000 test
• Week because Dr. Hull say tough.
• Pidgins work on a continuum they can be more
  ASL or more English in nature

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DEAF CHILDREN/DEAF PARENTS

• 10 of deaf children have deaf parents
• From infancy Deaf mothers use strategies to
  support the learning of a visual language
• They will sign near an object with which the
  child is playing or wave a hand to draw the
  childs attention to them
• They use exaggerated facial expressions

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• Communication is visual
• They use visual motherese to facilitate language
  growth
• Greater time is allowed to process language input
• Signs are modified they are presented in a
  fluent, rich manner

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Comparisons of Language in Deaf and Hearing
Children

• DC exposed to sign language from birth parallel
  hearing children
• They being to sign at 9 months of age
• (Hearing babies say their first word at 12 months
  of age)
• Between 12 18 months language development is
  parallel

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DC/HP compared with HC/HP

• According to Carey the speaking vocabulary of a
  hearing six year old ranges from 8,000 to 14,000
  words
• Research indicates that DC/HP at age six, where
  no form of sign communication is used only posses
  about 500 700 words

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• Because DC/HP may not be exposed to language
  caregivers frequently assume that their children
  do not have the language needed to engage in
  dialogues.
• Therefore, communication exchanges become
  monologues from a hearing perspective

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DEAF CHILDREN CANT READ

• Language development of lack of therefore has a
  significant impact on the ability to read.
• Because of the language delays due to problems in
  communication only 10 of 18 year old deaf
  students read above the 8th grade level.

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DEAF CHILDREN ARE NOT AS INTELLIGENT AS HEARING
CHILDREN

• On standardized intelligence tests the average IQ
  is 100
• For deaf students the average IQ is 96.89, only
  slightly lower than hearing children.
• Speech and language are often confused with
  intelligence but they are not related

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DEAF PEOPLE CANT TALK

• Babies who are born deaf or lose their hearing
  before speech and language are developed may have
  a difficult time mastering speech.
• They can talk but may have been made fun of, or
  their speech may not be clear

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HEARING AIDS ENABLE DEAF PEOPLE TO HEAR SPEECH

• Hearing aids amplify sounds
• They do not clarify
• There are many types of hearing aids including
  cochlear implants these do not cure hearing
  they are an implantable hearing aid

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DEAF PEOPLE CANT DRIVE

• Deaf people can and do drive
• 97 of the warning signals that reach the driver
  are gained through a visual channel
• 41/49 states rank deaf drivers as good or better
  than hearing drivers

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ALL DEAF PEOPLE WISH THEY COULD HEAR

• Culturally Deaf people do not want to hear
• They value their culture and see no reason to be
  fixed
• They have established a tight network that
  affords them social opportunities and a rich
  language

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INTERPRETERS AND SIGNERS

• Communication between deaf and hearing
  individuals is often accomplished between an
  interpreter
• An Interpreter
• Highly skilled professional
• Bound by a Code of Ethics
• Can both interpret and transliterate

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Signers

• These individuals have taken some classes in sign
  language
• They sign to express what they want to say
• They are not interpreters and should not be used
  in that capacity

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Technology and Deafness

• Technology plays a vital role in deafness
• Light signaling devices (telephone, door bells,
  baby cry systems)
• TTY/TDD, Sidekicks, and computers
• Hearing dogs for the Deaf

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Hard of Hearing People

• A few words
• These individuals can have a harder time with
  communication because hearing individuals assume
  they hear more than they do based on their speech
• Speech cannot be equated with hearing loss
• Speech cannot be equated with language
• Speech cannot be equated with literacy or
  intelligence

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PARTING WORDS

• Deaf people when given the access to
  communication can do anything hearing people can
  do based on their individual capabilities.
• Deaf people cannot be stereotyped they are as
  different as you and me and want to be viewed as
  such